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Pelosi filing FOIA request for key Kavanaugh documents, prolonging fight

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Sunday she will request that the government make public the FBI's supplemental background report into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, indicating the Democrats' fight against Kavanaugh is not over.
In a letter to her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said her Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request also would cover "transcripts of interviews, instructions from the White House, and any communications to the FBI from Senate Republicans regarding the scope of the investigation," production of which she said was "important to set the record straight."
The Senate narrowly confirmed Kavanaugh's appointment to the high court on Saturday, days after the FBI completed its report. In her letter, Pelosi said Kavanaugh's confirmation "has wounded the very soul of justice in our country" and called it a "dark chapter."
Democrats have complained that the bureau was not given time to thoroughly explore the allegations against Kavanaugh, which dated from his days in high school and college in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh repeatedly and emphatically denied the claims against him.
Republicans have argued that the supplemental FBI investigation instigated by wavering GOP senators and ordered by the White House turned up no corroborating witnesses to the claims and that Kavanaugh had sterling credentials for the court.
In the end, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was the only Democrat to vote for Kavanaugh's confirmation. He expressed empathy for sexual assault victims, but said that after factoring in the FBI report, "I have found Judge Kavanaugh to be a qualified jurist who will follow the Constitution." Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced her opposition to Kavanaugh's confirmation but voted "present" Saturday after it became clear the judge would be confirmed.
House Democrats have pledged to investigate Kavanaugh further if they win the majority in November. In her letter, Pelosi told her colleagues to channel their disappointment at Kavanaugh's confirmation toward success at the ballot box next month.
"We must not agonize, we must organize," Pelosi wrote. "People must vote."

Former Obama official calls Susan Collins ‘fake’ feminist

Former Obama White House official Jen Psaki, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union," derided Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, as a “fake” feminist for her support of Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed to the Supreme Court on Saturday amid allegations of sexual assault.
Collins was considered a key swing-vote until she confirmed her support for Kavanaugh during a floor speech on Friday.
"(Collins) struck a nerve to me in what she said and how she voted, because that’s political cowardice,” Psaki said on the Sunday broadcast. “That is somebody who is pretending to be a feminist but that is a fake feminism.”

You can’t say somebody is credible and then completely question their story.
— Jen Psaki 

Kavanaugh was ultimately nominated to the Supreme Court late Saturday by a narrow 50-48 margin, despite allegations that he committed sexual assault against Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor, in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
“You can argue Democrats mishandled things, they certainly did,” Psaki added. “But this is about a woman who is accusing someone of sexual assault, something that often many, many women do not come forward to do.”

FILE: Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins is followed by members of the media as she walks to the Capitol before a vote to advance Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.  (Associated Press)

Collins called Ford credible but said there was not enough evidence to corroborate her claims. Psaki said that people who worry about the accused miss the bigger issue that women face.
“It’s much more likely that women hold back and they don’t put these accusations forward that they don’t. That is the issue in this country, not being falsely accused,” Psaki said. “You can’t say somebody is credible and then completely question their story.”

North Korea ready to allow inspectors into missile sites, Pompeo says

U.S. Secretary of State met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sunday in a meeting that was seen as productive. (Mike Pompeo/Twitter)

North Korea on Monday said it was ready to allow an international group of inspectors into the country’s clandestine nuclear and missile sites, a move that could be seen as more evidence in Washington and Pyongyang’s thawing relationship.
Mike Pompeo, the U.S. secretary of state, made the announcement after a Sunday meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The meeting was apparently productive, and they even discussed another summit between Kim and President Trump, Reuters reported.
Pompeo identified Punggye-ri as one of the testing sites mentioned in their conversations. The U.S.’s top diplomat retweeted Trump’s tweet touting a “good meeting” in Pyongyang.
"We continue to make progress on agreements made at Singapore Summit," Pompeo tweeted. Trump met with Kim in Singapore in June and – at the time – announced that the two countries are set to "start a new history."
The tone of the meeting was cordial. Pompeo was hit by North Korean officials a few months ago as having a “gangster-like demand for denuclearization.”
Trump also called off a meeting with Pompeo in August, due to a lag in the negotiations.
The Washington Post reported that Pompeo met with Kim for about two hours and had lunch. Kim told Pompeo as they sat down, “It’s a very nice day that promises a good future for both countries.”

Democrats to appeal to voters to channel anger over Kavanaugh confirmation

Democrats' 'blue wave' may be in jeopardy as new polls suggest the bitter confirmation battle of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh could actually help Republicans; insight from former Clinton campaign chief strategist Mark Penn.

Democratic politicians appear eager to try and channel voter anger over the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to voter turnout in November.
The realities are that Democrats have a better chance at regaining control of the House than they do the Senate. They need to win 23 more seats to take over the House. The hope is that women – already frustrated with President Trump – turn out in droves for the midterms.
"I really think this is going to drive women out to the polls in unprecedented numbers," Katie Hill, a Democratic House candidate in California, said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster, told The Journal that Christian conservatives will be happy with Trump for his Supreme Court picks, but he said the Democratic "enthusiasm in the midterms will go even higher if that’s possible."
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D- Hawaii., who was an outspoken critic of the former federal judge, told ABC’s ‘This Week’ that she is focused like a ‘laser beam’ on the upcoming elections.
"I'm very focused on the here and now, which is that all these angry women, mainly, out there who saw what was going on and how the Senate was not able to deal with the entire issue of sexual assault," she said.
The climactic 50-48 roll call on Saturday capped a fight that seized the national conversation after claims emerged that he had sexually assaulted women three decades ago — allegations he emphatically denied. Those accusations transformed the clash from a routine struggle over judicial ideology into an angry jumble of questions about victims’ rights, the presumption of innocence and personal attacks on nominees.
His confirmation provides a defining accomplishment for Trump and the Republican Party, which found a unifying force in the cause of putting a new conservative majority on the court.
Republicans will likely also use the Kavanaugh confirmation process to stir their base, pointing at what they saw as a fundamentally flawed approach Democrats took in handling sexual assault allegations against the nomination.
"Our energy and enthusiasm was lagging behind theirs [Democrats] until this," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R., Ky., told "CBS Sunday." "And I think this gave us the motivation and the opportunity to have the kind of turnout in this off-year election that would help us hold the Senate."
Some Democrats have already mentioned investigating Kavanaugh if they regain control of the House. Rep. Ted. Lieu, D-Calif., and Rep. Louis V. Gutierrez, D-Ill., called for impeachment proceedings in the event that an investigation proved Kavanaugh lied while in front of Congress.
That investigation, Democrats have said, could well lead to impeachment proceedings. Federal judges can be impeached by a simple majority of the House, but actually removing Justice Kavanaugh from the bench would then require a two-thirds vote of the Senate -- an extraordinarily unlikely scenario. No sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice has ever been removed from the bench using this mechanism.
Some Democrats appear to flinch at the prospect of seeking impeachment.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked about the prospects of impeaching Kavanaugh, and she said it “would not be my plan.”
“I have enough people on my back wanting us to impeach the president,” Pelosi said, according to The Times.
Alan Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter professor of law, Emeritus, at Harvard, wrote on Fox News that he hopes Democrats take over the House in November, and they act “as an appropriate check and balance on the other branches rather than as a revenge-driven Javert, the villain of “Les Miserables,” obsessed with righting past wrongs rather than preventing future ones.”
Fox News' Gregg Re and The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Trump, at Kansas rally, praises Kavanaugh, slams Democrats

President Trump spoke at a rally in Kansas on Saturday night, praising his newly confirmed Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh while also slamming Democrats and urging people to vote Republican in the upcoming midterm elections.
Upon taking the stage, Trump told the crowd in Topeka that he was "thrilled" to be with them on a "truly historic night."
The president was in Kansas to support Kris Kobach, the GOP nominee for governor, as well as political newcomer Steve Watkins, a Republican seeking to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins.
The president praised Republican senators and Kavanaugh, calling him "a man of great character and intellect," while also condemning Democrats for what he described as their "disgraceful campaign" against him.
"The radical Democrats have turned into an angry mob" who have thrown to the side "every notion of fairness, of justice, of decency and of due process," Trump said.
He went on to urge the crowd to go to the polls next month, telling them they "have a chance to stop the radical Democrats" by electing Republicans to Congress.
"The Democrats are willing to cause such destruction in the pursuit of power, just imagine the devastation they would cause if they ever obtained the power they so desperately want and crave," Trump said.
He also applauded GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Mitch McConnell, saying both are "great," as well as Sen. Susan Collins, who announced her support for Kavanaugh on Friday in a 40-minute speech on the Senate floor.
"How good was Sen. Susan Collins yesterday?," Trump asked the crowd.
During a post-rally interview on Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine," host Jeanine Pirro asked Trump about controversial comments he made earlier this week at a rally in Mississippi, questioning the sexual assault allegations made by Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford.
"Well, there were a lot of things happening that weren’t correct. They weren’t true. And there were a lot of things that were left unsaid. And I thought I had to even the playing field because it was very unfair to judge -- now I can, you know, very nicely say Justice Kavanaugh," Trump said. "It was a very unfair situation. So I evened the playing field. And once I did that, it started to sail through. He was treated very, very unfairly."
Earlier Saturday, the Senate voted 50-48, mostly along party lines, to confirm Kavanaugh to the nation’s highest court.
During the rally, the president also accused Democrats of supporting sanctuary cities and of wanting to strip funding from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"Democrats also support deadly sanctuary cities that release violent predators and bloodthirsty killers, like MS-13, into our communities," Trump said. "Republicans believe our country should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not criminal aliens."
He said members of the GOP "stand proudly" with law enforcement, Border Patrol and ICE, who he added are "not treated properly."
"MS-13 doesn’t like ICE. That’s why I like ICE," Trump said.
Separately, Trump took aim at a few Democrats, including Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the latter of whom he referred to as "Pocahontas" because of her claims of Native American ancestry.
"I’ve got more Indian blood in me than Pocahontas -- and I’ve got none," Trump said.
Following the rally, Warren fired back at Trump on Twitter.
"Hey @realDonaldTrump, hope you’re having fun at your rally. Too bad you’re the least popular incumbent president in modern history," she tweeted. "And in the meantime, we are coming for your pathetic rubber-stamp Republicans in Congress in 31 days."
Fox News’ Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pence faces Kavanaugh protesters, tells security detail 'Let's do it' as he walks down Senate steps

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Vice President Mike Pence says “Let’s do it” and walks down Senate steps toward a sea of protesters shouting “Shame! Shame! Shame!”

Vice President Mike Pence refused to exit the Capitol building through a side entrance as he faced a horde of protesters shouting “Shame! Shame! Shame!” following the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Saturday.
Pence was exiting toward the Senate steps with his security detail when he appeared to pause when a large crowd of demonstrators across the plaza increased their chanting as the doors opened to reveal the vice president.
Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms Jim Morehand reportedly told Pence that he could exit through the Carriage Entrance if he preferred.
PROTESTERS GATHER AT KAVANAUGH CONFIRMATION VOTE, SHOUT ‘SHAME ON YOU’ IN SENATE GALLERY
Pence turned and his security detail radioed the new exit but he quickly stopped and pivoted.
“Let’s do it,” he said.
The doors to the protesters opened and a defiant Pence walked toward his motorcade, waving along the way.
Kavanaugh was confirmed along party lines in a 50-48 vote, making his the closest successful confirmation vote in over 100 years.
Pence said in a statement that Kavanaugh’s confirmation marked another success for the Trump administration.
“In nominating Judge Kavanaugh, President Trump kept his word to the American people to appoint judges who will interpret the Constitution as written and uphold the God-given liberties enshrined there.”
Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.